Young Indian archery squad shine with nine medals at Asia Cup Singapore leg
The second stage concluded on Friday at the Bukit Gombak Stadium, with India continuing their strong run from the Bangkok leg earlier this year, where they topped the medal tally with eight podium finishes, including five golds.
Kushal Dalal was once again the standout performer. After bagging both individual and team titles in Bangkok, he maintained his fine form by securing the gold medal in the men's individual compound event, defeating Australia's Joshua Mahon 149-143 in the final.
In the same category, India added a bronze through Sachin Chechi, who edged past Bangladesh's Himu Bachhar 148-146.
The women's compound final turned into an all-Indian battle, with Tejal Salve narrowly beating Shanmukhi Naga Sai Budde 146-144 to take the gold. Budde, however, added another medal to her tally later, teaming up with Dalal in the compound mixed team final. The pair fought hard but fell just short, losing 155-153 to Kazakhstan's Adel Zhexenbinova and Andrey Tyutyun, settling for silver.
Indian archers reached five out of six team finals and featured in two of the four individual gold medal matches, highlighting the depth and consistency of the young squad.
In the compound women's team event, the trio of Budde, Salve, and Tanishka Nilkumar Thokal narrowly missed gold, losing to Malaysia in a dramatic shootoff after a 232-232 tie. The final was decided 29-26 in Malaysia's favour.
The men's compound team of Dalal, Ganesh Thirumuru, and Mihir Nitin Apar also earned silver after a close 231-235 defeat to Kazakhstan.
In recurve, India ended runners-up in the mixed team event. Vishnu Choudhary and Vaishnavi Babarao Pawar went down 6-0 to Indonesia's Arif Pangestu and Ayu Mareta Dyasari in the final.
The men's recurve team, Choudhary, Paras Hooda, and Juyel Sarkar impressed in the early rounds but couldn't overcome Japan in the title clash, also losing 6-0.
Notably, the Indian contingent in Singapore consisted entirely of Under-21 archers, with senior stars like Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Deepika Kumari giving the event a miss.
Among the many highlights, the Indian women's compound team set a new U-21 world record in the qualification round, amassing 2101 points. Salve, Budde, and Thokal broke their own previous record of 2076 set in 2023.
Over 200 archers from 21 nations took part in the second Archery Asia Cup 2025, showcasing some of the best emerging talent in the continent. (ANI)
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